Christian missionaries oftenclai m that Jesus (Peace and blessing of Allah be upon him)
was sinless while Mohammed (Peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) committed sins
so as to at least elevate the statue of Jesus (Peace and blessing of Allah be upon him)
above that of Mohammed (Peace and blessing of Allah be upon him). Here I have
separated this paper in to two sections to examine whether their claim is correct or not.
The first part will deal with the claim against Mohammed (Peace and blessing of Allah be
upon him) and the Islamic answer to the question whether prophets sin or not. And the
second section will be dealing with the biblical Jesus. This section will thoroughly
discuss whether the biblical Jesus was a sinner or not.

Christian missionaries mention some quranic verses and Hadiths to prove the claim they
made concerning Mohammed (Peace and blessing of Allah be upon him).
One missionary said:

40:55 then have patience (O Muhammad). Lo! The promise of
Allah is true. And ask forgiveness of thysin [dh-n-b] and hymn the
praise of thy Lord at fall of night and in the early hours. (Pickthall)

47:19 so know (O Muhammad . . .) that . . . none has the right to be
worshipped but Allah and ask forgiveness for yoursin, [dh-n-b]
and also for (the sin of) believing men and believing women. And
Allah knows well your moving about, and your place of rest (in
your homes). (Hilali and Khan)

Note that Muhammad implores forgiveness from Allah not only for himself but for Muslim men and women. This means that average humans have dh-n-b, and so does Muhammad.

48:2 That Allah may forgive you yoursins [dh-n-b] of the past and the
future and complete His Favor on you, and guide you on the Straight Path
. . . (Hilali and Khan)

evil result" (Omar). A western scholar defines it as "a crime, fault, sin" (Penrice).
Sources:
* Abdul Mannan Omar, Dictionary of the Holy Qur\u2019an, Noor Foundation, 2004.

As can be understood from his quote this missionary tends to prove us that Mohammed\u2019s
(Peace and blessing be upon him) sins can never be different from the major sins
committed by different unbelievers stated in the holy quran. First I want to appreciate the
missionary for not denying that the word \u2018dh-n-b\u2019 can be a simple fault or offence. Then
in the quran the word \u2018dh-n-b\u2019 is mostly used for great sins don\u2019t necessarily mean that it
must be referring to a great sin in Mohammed\u2019s (Peace and blessing be upon him) case
too. Lets look at this Hadith to clearly point out what kind of sin is Allah almighty talking
about in the above verses of the holy quran:

Abu Sufyan bin Harb informed me that Heraclius had sent a messenger
to him while he had been accompanying a caravan from Quraish. They
were merchants doing business in Sham (Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and
Jordan), at the time when Allah's Apostle had truce with Abu Sufyan
and Quraish infidels. So Abu Sufyan and his companions went to
Heraclius at Ilya (Jerusalem). Heraclius called them in the court and he
had all the senior Roman dignitaries around him. He called for his
translator who, translating Heraclius's question said to them, "Who
amongst you is closely related to that man who claims to be a
Prophet?" Abu Sufyan replied, "I am the nearest relative to him
(amongst the group)."

translator to tell my companions that he wanted to put some questions
to me regarding that man (The Prophet) and that if I told a lie they (my
companions) should contradict me." Abu Sufyan added, "By Allah!
Had I not been afraid of my companions labeling me a liar, I would not
have spoken the truth about the Prophet. The first question he asked me
about him was:

'What is his family status amongst you?'
I replied, 'He belongs to a good (noble) family amongst us.'
Heraclius further asked, 'Has anybody amongst you ever claimed the

same (i.e. to be a Prophet) before him?'
I replied, 'No.'
He said, 'Was anybody amongst his ancestors a king?'
I replied, 'No.'
Heraclius asked, 'Do the nobles or the poor follow him?'
I replied, 'It is the poor who follow him.'
He said, 'Are his followers increasing decreasing (day by day)?'
I replied, 'They are increasing.'
He then asked, 'Does anybody amongst those who embrace his religion

become displeased and renounce the religion afterwards?'
I replied, 'No.'
Heraclius said, 'Have you ever accused him of telling lies before his